The bright yellow truck, with a logo of a pair of spectacles perched on a luxurious mustache, appears to be similar to many other food trucks that attract hungry students at a college in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.
However, when placing their order, the students started making hand signals, suggesting that this is not a typical food truck.
The Abey Khao food truck, which translates to “The Eat Guys” is Pakistan’s first mobile restaurant staffed solely by deaf people, providing them with a source of income.
The food truck is the brainchild of a deaf family, with both parents and their two sons being deaf in one or both ears. Daughter Ayesha Raza, on the other hand, can hear and came up with the idea for Abey Khao to help her brothers.
She stated that In Pakistan, the majority of deaf kids are jobless, and they confront challenges such as language problems, inequity, and bias. While customers at Abey Khao hold hard of hearing culture and order with sign language.
The food truck is not only giving jobs, but also bridging communication gaps between deaf individuals and the hearing population, she said, thanks to illustrations explaining how to utter simple sentences in sign language.
“We should forge our own way through entrepreneurship, no matter how modest,” said Sheikh Faizan, Ayesha’s brother. He added that because they cherish their dignity as independent living beings more than anything else.
